This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7 119 with respect to Japanese Application No.2001-391883 filed on Dec. 25, 2001, and the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This invention generally relates to a vehicle seat device equipped with a walk in mechanism.
This invention generally relates to a seat device having a fold down mechanism (turning down mechanism of a seatback in the forward direction over a seat cushion) and a walk-in mechanism.
Conventionally, a walk-in mechanism is installed in a seat device of two-door type vehicle. The walk-in mechanism works to unlock a lock mechanism of a seat position adjusting mechanism of the front seat, when a seatback of a front seat is turned forward. And the front seat is released to move in forward direction for making an entry of a passenger on to or off from the rear seat easy.
Also for the seat device of a two-door type vehicle, the fold down mechanism is installed. The fold down mechanism works to make the back surface of the front seat back on the same height level with the baggage storage space, and a rear space of vehicle be utilized easily for baggage storage. The cushion of a front seat is turned up and moved forward around a hinge of the front portion thereof, then the seatback of the front seat is forwardly turned down to the space where the cushion was.
An example of a seat device equipped with these mechanisms is disclosed in a PCT international publication number WO 99/38723. This publication discloses the first lever for operating the walk-in mechanism and the second lever for operating the fold down mechanism. Accordingly, the levers are selected and operated according to the each function.
In the conventional seat device described above, since the two levers have to be operated for the walk-in and the fold down mechanism selectively, operation miss may happen. Once such operation miss happens, restoring the cushion and the seatback position to a normal position is made to be difficult.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve the inconvenient operation of the conventional technology by utilizing one operational lever and to avoid the aforementioned drawback.
The present invention is related with a seat device including an upper arm which can be turned in forward and backward directions around a lower arm, comprising contact portion provided in said upper arm, base bracket fixed to said lower arm and having a stopper, first link member pivotally supported by said base bracket and having an intervening portion, and an activating member for activating said first link member, wherein the intervening portion provided on the first link member is moved within a locus of movement of said contact portion when a walk-in operation is performed and the intervening portion is moved out from the locus of said movement by activating the activating member when a seatback is turned down in forward direction with large angle.
In accordance with the present invention, an activating member can move the intervening portion towards within or out of the locus of movement of the contact portion by operating a lever or engagement with the cushion. The position of the upper arm can be easily selected in accordance with the walk-in or fold down operation.